Helsinki City Guide - overview

The mean annual temperature in efficient, elegant Helsinki hovers around 43°F (6°C), but this does not mean visitors need expect a chilly welcome. The funky Finns, known for their hip and happening sense of style, design and association with high technology, know how to warm hearts and minds in their modern, cosmopolitan capital.

The city, spread across a cluster of promontories and peninsulas, is 450 years old, its clean, wide avenues lined with buildings echoing centuries of architectural excellence from Gothic through to art deco and cutting-edge contemporary. It all fits together in total harmony with nature, which invades the urban environment with green spaces, when it is not blanketed in snow. Trees, flowers, hares, squirrels, pheasants and even the odd elk are often spied in the myriad parks in the centre of the city, the whole surrounded with crisp, unpolluted air and the bright blue Baltic waters.

Despite the cold climate, the invigorating outdoors beckons in Helsinki even in the middle of winter. Recreation takes the form of skating, skiing, ice-fishing, sailing, cycling, soaking in saunas, or, during the short-lived summer, sunbathing. After action, sit tucked in a rug outside one of the many street-side bars sipping hot 'gloggi' (spiced wine) and watch the wintry world go by. The city is also ideal for walking, the sights all concentrated in the central area beneath the towering cathedrals.

The great outdoors is also the setting for Helsinki's numerous festivals and fairs, like the May Day Carnival, October Herring Festival, the Helsinki City Marathon, annual Samba carnival and the midsummer festival, to name but a few. Events do move indoors when it comes to the city's rich cultural life, featuring some of the world's finest orchestras and choirs, rock concerts, film festivals, the Finnish National Opera and Ballet performances, and the output of countless theatre and dance troupes.

Whether visited as a snowy winter wonderland or scenic sun-splashed cityscape with almost permanent daylight, Helsinki is a unique destination that will delight the heart of any traveller.

Getting around: Helsinki has a simple and extremely efficient public transport system, rated one of the best in Europe, making it easy to hop onto trams, buses, the metro or a ferry with a single ticket purchased from the driver, ticket machines or even by SMS on a mobile phone. Special tourist tickets are available for visitors allowing for one, three or five days unlimited use of the public transport system. When the weather is good, why ride when you can walk? The city is so compact and pleasant that getting around on foot is an attractive option. Alternatively, in summer make use of the hundreds of kilometres of bike trails by picking up a bicycle for a small coin deposit at one of the bike racks dotted around the city centre. There are also plenty of taxis available to be hailed, ordered by telephone or boarded at one of the many taxi ranks. A car in the easily navigable city poses no problems, and there are several car hire agencies available.